


Lily Lovegood-Potter and the Cabin on the Black Lake

by J_Gernsback



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (obviously, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, Harry and Luna have kids), Hogwarts Express
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 03:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12003906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Gernsback/pseuds/J_Gernsback
Summary: Lily G. Lovegood-Potter is heading out to her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.(Updates may be infrequent, but I'll try my best.)





	Lily Lovegood-Potter and the Cabin on the Black Lake

Lily Lovegood-Potter's heart was beating out of her chest. 

They--Mum, Dad, Aunt Ginny, Aunt Elle, and herself--had just gone through the wall into Platform 9 and 3/4, which was simultaneously more and less stressful than she imagined it would be. She pushed her glasses back into place and took a look around.

The Hogwarts Express was one of the most wonderful things she had ever seen--a great red and black machine, pumping out so much steam that she could just barely see the platform. She could have stared at it all day, and probably would have if her father hadn't put his hand on her shoulder.

"Lil, keep going," he said, ushering her along so the next group, a short boy with black hair and his mum, could make their way through. Once they were out of the way, he looked at her.

"Are you alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, only half-lying. It wasn't that she wasn't alright, just that she wasn't quite fine either. She'd heard all the stories about moving staircases and secret passages to Hogsmeade that she was not to go looking for under any circumstances, but stories can only tell you so much. In all honesty, she had no idea what to expect and wasn't sure if she was ready to be away from home for this long. 

Aunt Ginny was saying her goodbyes to Aunt Elle. "Goodbye, dear. Hope your teeth get better."  
"Hm," said Aunt Elle, through an uncomfortable-looking set of braces.  
"Oh, come on, love, George meant well!"  
"Hm?"  
"Well, he didn't mean any harm."  
"Hm!"  
"You know what I'm trying to say! Love you."

After Elle bid her farewells, Ginny turned to Lily. "Good luck, darling! I'll try to stay out of your hair. And remember, you only have to do a few flying lessons, you don't have to like them."

Aunt Ginny got on the train and Lily turned back to her dad. She pulled her father close and hugged him with everything in her. "I love you, Dad," she said into his shoulder. "I love you too, Lily."

Her mother tapped her on the shoulder. Turning around, she was given a necklace with a little cork at the end of it. "It's to help against the Nargles, Hogwarts is full of them."  
"Thanks, Mum. I love you."  
"Love you too, dear. I'll give your best to Albus and Dora."

After they all stepped back, Lily looked forward to the doors ahead of her. Unsure of what awaited her, she lingered a moment longer and looked back one more time. They all waved at her, and she stood waving back, wanting to let this moment sink in, let it linger in her memory as the moment that she became a real witch. 

The whistle of the Hogwarts Express brought her back to reality. She leapt on to the train, just barely getting on before it started to pull out of the station, and started pushing her cart down the corridors looking for an open seat.

Eventually, after a few misses and some time spent trying to lose the tail of a very large and aggressive toad that had escaped from somebody's bags, she found a nice, mostly empty compartment occupied only by a brown-haired girl with a radio, a cat, and a furrowed brow. She had headphones on, and seemed to be in her own world, blissfully unaware of the blonde girl who just settled down across from her.

After several long minutes of Lily sitting awkwardly, trying both to not be a bother and get her attention, she was saved by the other girl opening her eyes and realizing that she was not alone. She hastily switched off her wireless and pulled off the headphones. "Hello," she exclaimed a little too loudly.

"Hi," replied Lily politely. "I'm Lily. This," she added, pointing to the barn owl in a cage next to her, "is Terri. What's your name?"  
"Heather. That's Myron."  
At that comment, she gestured toward the white cat currently gnawing on her Charms textbook. "Oh. That's nice."

After that, the conversation entered an uncomfortable lull where they just sort of stared at each other, hoping for a nice thought. Lily noticed that Heather had the most brilliant grey eyes. She mentioned as much.  
"Your eyes are great."  
"Sorry?"  
"Oh, um, you-you've got nice eyes. Grey."  
"Ah, yeah. Well...thanks, I suppose."  
Heather moved a little closer to the window and a little farther away from Lily, who coughed and looked down.

A few more minutes passed before anyone said anything. Then Lily added, "Sorry about that."  
"Hm?"  
"About the, uh, eye thing. That was a little weird. Sorry."  
"Oh, it's fine."  
They proceeded to fall back into silence. Lily was beginning to worry that all of Hogwarts would be like this when a black boy with purple in his dreadlocks wandered into the compartment.

"Hey there! I'm Julian. You?"  
As she was aggressively having her hand shaken by the boy, Lily managed to sputter out her name, while Heather somehow managed to recede even further into her seat.  
"Good to meet you, Lily! Who's the friend?"  
"Oh, that's Heather, and I've only just met her, actually--"  
"Great! Mind if I take a seat?"  
Lily shook her head, barely conscious of what she was doing.

Julian sat down next to her, immediately making himself immensely at home.  
"All my things are in the next compartment over, but I had to take a minute away from the other guy in there. He seems alright enough, don't get me wrong, but a bit monotonous, you know what I mean? Very focused on Quidditch and what broomsticks are best and the glory of the win, yeah? Definite Gryffindor, if I say so myself." 

"My dad was in Gryffindor," said Lily almost defensively, even though she knew almost exactly what he meant.

"Well, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, just saying it's a fact," said Julian breezily. "Not my thing, personally. Always preferred History of Magic."  
Heather pulled just barely out of her seat at that. "Oh, do you like it as well?" asked Julian. Heather nodded. "Any favorite eras? I've always found Roman magic fascinating because of how openly they tried to interfere. I mean, the way that Fatidicus the Wise just openly warned Caesar! Didn't do a lick of good, of course, but still..."

Heather proceeded to explain how she hadn't looked much into Italian magical history, she really focused on British magic, and found the Goblin Rebellions fascinating, particularly the whole Basil Flack debacle, and wondered whether another goblin insurrection was likely, she personally doubted it, because while conditions weren't ideal, they were far better than they used to be, and--

Lily was fascinated by how quickly this quiet girl leapt into animation when they started talking about this subject, and was even more surprised when they segued to the topic of music and she turned out to be an authority on all things 90s.

"The Weird Sisters really are one of the most influential magical groups. They're often undervalued because of how commercial some of their work was, but the lyricism in songs like 'Magic Works' is almost beyond compare among groups of the time, except with maybe the Lacewings, but they were sometimes a little too sentimental for my taste. And muscially, Kirley Duke is undeniably the most innovative guitarist of the second half of the century!"  
"Well, I guess I've never really thought about it," said Julian, thoroughly enjoying himself. "I just think that 'Do the Hippogriff' is fun."  
"My dad loves the Weird Sisters," added Lily, wanting to contribute. "They even played at his wedding."

Heather gave Lily a look like she wanted to absorb her and take her knowledge for her own. "WHAT!?"  
"Well, they played at the wedding. I've seen the old pictures, it looked pretty fun--"  
"WHO IS YOUR FATHER THAT THE WEIRD SISTERS WOULD PLAY AT HIS WEDDING!?"  
"I'm wondering the same thing," said Julian. "What, is he a rock star or something?"  
"Yeah, something like that," replied Lily. She was regretting mentioning it already. It's not that she wasn't proud of her dad, she just didn't want special treatment for being Harry Potter's daughter. She knew it would come out sooner or later, but she'd prefer later; that way she could just be a normal kid on the ride there. 

"Oh, you can't just leave it there!" scoffed Julian. "Who is he?"  
"Just...someone."  
"'Just someone.' As if! Come on, spit it out!"  
"...Harry Potter."  
Julian looked a bit like he'd choked on his pumpkin juice.  
"Sorry? Did I hear that right? Your dad's Harry Potter?"  
"Yeah. That doesn't mean anything, though."  
"Yes, it does!"  
"Well, you know what I mean! Who's yours?"  
"John Rosier. He works in... finances, basically."  
"Cool. What about you, Heather?"

Heather's brow furrowed even further when they started talking about parents. She sighed, "I don't really want to talk about my dad. We're going to Hogwarts to learn about our abilities, not our parents'."  
"Thank you, Heather, that's just what I was trying to say. Are we okay?"

Julian shrugged, and seemed to take a hint; for the rest of the ride, the conversation was largely confined to music, history, and whether or not it was true that the caretaker's cat was a demon. Eventually, they pulled into Hogsmeade Station, where a large bearded man waited to take them to the boats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ginny having a wife comes from a dream I had where Harry and Luna were dating during Half-Blood Prince and Ginny was into ladies. I couldn't let go of the idea. 
> 
> Lily's last name is abbreviated because reasons. Also, it's noteworthy later.
> 
> The terms 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' are reserved for Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Elle. They're not related. Just wanted to make that clear.
> 
> I know that the cork is only in the movies, but it was a sweet scene I had in mind.
> 
> Let me know if you guys like this, I'm pretty new to the whole thing. It's a little short and a little rough, but I hope it works.


End file.
